Collection
/
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Receipt for a Grain Loan

Aramaic

1 of 17

Object Label

In the fifth century B.C.E., Egypt’s Elephantine Island was home to Egyptians, Persians, and Jews. This document comes from the archive of a Jewish family whose first language was Aramaic rather than Egyptian. It states that in December 402 B.C.E., Ananiah, son of Haggai, borrowed two monthly rations of grain from Pakhnum, son of Besa, an Aramaean with an Egyptian name. This receipt would have been kept by Pakhnum and returned to Ananiah when he repaid the loan. No interest is charged on the loan, but there is a penalty for failing to repay it on the appointed date.

Caption

Aramaic. Receipt for a Grain Loan, December, 402 B.C.E.. Papyrus, ink, mud, a: Object: 11 13/16 × 13 3/4 in. (30 × 35 cm) a: Frame: 14 15/16 × 16 1/4 in. (38 × 41.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 47.218.93a-b. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Culture

Aramaic

Title

Receipt for a Grain Loan

Date

December, 402 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 28

Period

Late Period

Geography

Place found: Elephantine, Egypt

Medium

Papyrus, ink, mud

Classification

Document

Dimensions

a: Object: 11 13/16 × 13 3/4 in. (30 × 35 cm) a: Frame: 14 15/16 × 16 1/4 in. (38 × 41.2 cm)

Credit Line

Bequest of Theodora Wilbour from the collection of her father, Charles Edwin Wilbour

Accession Number

47.218.93a-b

Frequent Art Questions

  • Is there a way to see the transcripts of the other papri in the archive of the Jewish colony?

    There are images of 8 of the papyri in our collection online, if you can read Aramaic! You might also want to check out "Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt" by Edward Bleiberg which was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name and is available in our shop. You may also be interested in "The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change" by Bezalel Porten with J. Joel Farber et al.

Have information?

Have information about an artwork? Contact us at

bkmcollections@brooklynmuseum.org.

Artists and makers

Aramaic

15 works in the collection